Inside a Boys in the Basement rehearsal

A play cannot happen without weeks and weeks of rehearsals. Boys in the Basement, which opens this Friday, began rehearsals in early September. Cast and crew have been gathering twice a week ever since for rehearsals.

The cast of Boys in the Basement at a recent rehearsal.

In this final week before opening night, rehearsals are occurring every night. What goes on at these?

At the most basic level, actors are memorizing their lines and the cue lines that they need to speak after. But rehearsal goes much deeper than that. They also are the time in which actors become the characters in the play.

Peter Nerad and Gina Palmer at a recent rehearsal.

That means discussing character during what is known as table work, when actors sit at a table and read the script while discussing their characters’ states of mind and motivations. Often, actors find nuances or bring their own life experiences to characters, producing iterations that may never have occurred to the playwright.

Bailey Lawrence and Brendan Butkus at a recent rehearsal

The director is doing the same, but from the view of the overall story. A director is also the show’s choreographer. Where each actor stands and how they move is all carefully thought out. When you see Boys, hopefully no actor will be straying from where he or she is supposed to be in any given scene.

That’s because scenes paint a stage picture for the audience, taking into account the concept of dynamic and static balance that also is used in other visual media.

Come and see how it all comes together. Buy your tickets today by clicking here.